The title to this post is a lyric to an old Guy Clark song
that I happen to think best demonstrates one of my long
held marketing principles.
Generate more leads, more opportunities, more clients
than you can possibly serve, and then raise your prices.
Here’s the theory – If I have more demands on my
time than I can meet. I can look someone squarely in
the eye and name my price, because I don’t “have†to
get the order.
I suppose I learned this idea by trial and error but now
I use it to incrementally raise the price of any new
product or service I launch.
Okay, another very practical reason for the “keep
generating leads even when you don’t need themâ€
school of thought is that it allows you to work only
with clients you enjoy.
Too many business owners find themselves enslaved
by maniac clients that rob them of their value. Just
say no can apply to marketing too.
Lastly, and coming back around to Guy Clark, nothing
is more appealing than security. If a potential client
sniffs even a whiff of desperation, your selling effort
will move away from your terms and you won’t have
the guts to name your price.
So, the moral of the story? No matter how much
business you think you have, no matter how many
times the phone rings in a day, keep generating
new leads and opportunities.
The only way to demand more for the same effort
is to create more demand for more or you. And then,
sell like you don’t need the money.
